Despite being cash-strapped, the outstanding debt is guaranteed by Verde Media’s owners, which includes media mogul Ted Turner. Analysts said the Internet company should be able to pay within a few weeks.

Still, the Verde troubles deal a double whammy for Scient: mid-month, a computer reseller company called Inacom, also a Scient customer, filed for Chapter 11. Inacom’s bankruptcy contributed about $800,000 in bad debt in the fiscal-fourth quarter 2000, analysts said.

Scient’s management told analysts that they don’t foresee any near-term bankruptcies from other Internet-company customers. Still, some analysts publicly worried about the company’s exposure to other “.com” companies’ woes.

"The company's ‘.com’ exposure continues to be high this quarter,” wrote SG Cowen & Co. analyst Moshe Katri.

Scient’s problem with Verde could happen elsewhere: Analysts said other consulting businesses face risk from their “.com” customers who declare bankruptcy or go out of business.

Despite the new bankrupt customer, most analysts maintained their ratings on Scient. Banc of America however, lowered Scient to “market perform” from a “buy”. Analysts still are looking for first-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share for the quarter ending in June, on revenue of nearly $80 million.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only.
Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.